Good economic development of the past few years has increased
the income of household-dwelling units most in Lapland

Good economic development of the past few years
has increased the income of household-dwelling units most in
LaplandAccording to Statistics Finland’s total statistics on
income distribution, the median income of household-dwelling units
in Finland was in real terms 2.5 per cent higher last year than in
2014, which marked the ending to the contraction of Finland’s
economy that had lasted for several years. The income development
has been best in the sub-regional units of Tunturi-Lappi and
Pohjois-Lappi, where the real income of household-dwelling units
was around 5.5 per cent higher in 2017 than in 2014. The
corresponding growth in income was 4.7 per cent in the sub-regional
unit of Vakka-Suomi in Southwestern Finland.

Real changes (%) in household-dwelling units'
median income in 2014 to 2017. Ten sub-regional units with the
highest and lowest growth

The good growth in the median income of household-dwelling units
in Tunturi-Lappi and Pohjois-Lappi seems to be explained by the
rapid real growth in earned and entrepreneurial income, which was
good six per cent in household-dwelling units of these areas in
2014 to 2017 measured by mean income. The good growth in the median
income of household-dwelling units in Vakka-Suomi appears to be
caused most of all by the fast growth in earned income received by
household-dwelling units.

In the areas of Northern Lapland the good income development of
earned and entrepreneurial income is largely explained by tourism
and its growth. The good growth in earned income of
household-dwelling units in Vakka-Suomi is probably due to the
successful manufacturing activity in the area in recent years, such
as the automobile, food and shipbuilding industries.

The income development of household-dwelling units has been
weakest in recent years in Ostrobothnia in the sub-regional units
of Kokkola and Vaasa and in South Karelia in the sub-regional units
of Lappeenranta and Imatra. In these areas the real growth of
household-dwelling units’ median income remained close on one
per cent in 2014 to 2017.

Growth still modest in real income of average households in
2017

The income development of Finnish households has been weak in
the 2010s, in the early years of the decade household-dwelling
units’ disposable monetary income even fell in real terms. In
2015, household-dwelling units’ income development turned
clearly positive after a long time, but in the past few years, the
growth rate of real income has not much accelerated.

The real income of household dwelling-units grew in 2017
measured by the mean by 1.8 per cent from the previous year. In
turn, according to the median income that best describes the income
of average household-dwelling units, the real growth in
household-dwelling units’ income stood at nearly one per cent
in 2017.

Annual changes in household dwelling-units’
real income in 1995 to 2017 (

Change in 1995 to 2000, 2000 to 2005 and 2005 to 2010 describes the
average annual change in the period. Income concept: equivalent
disposable monetary income (excl. sales profits), average per
household-dwelling unit (corrected on
18 December 2018 at 11:00 am). Equivalent income = the
household-dwelling unit's income divided by its consumption unit
figure. (Corrected on 18 December 2018 at 11:00 am)